Aalto-Theater

In the location's words:

Designed by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, the Aalto Theatre with its 1,125 seats is not only home to the Aalto Music Theatre, the Aalto Ballet Essen and the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra, it is also an architectural landmark. Alvar Aalto, who, like Gropius, Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is one of the most important representatives of architecture in the 20th century, consistently realized his concept of "human architecture" here - whose primary goal is the well-being of the people inside the buildings - from the ground plan to the portal. Described by the FAZ as "perhaps the most beautiful German theater building since 1945", the building combines perfect aesthetics with high utility value.

With its organically flowing basic forms and light-colored granite cladding, the Aalto Theater is reminiscent of Nordic landscapes. The curved rows of seats in front of the stage and the asymmetrical shape of the auditorium were inspired by the ancient theater in Delphi. A special feature is the lack of a stage tower: the stage house is integrated into the overall shape of the building. Aalto won the architectural competition for the new building back in 1959. Almost 30 years were to pass before his plans were realized, during which discussions about the planned building, doubts about its feasibility and new attempts to realize it alternated. Alvar Aalto did not live to see the opening in 1988; he died in 1976. The delays did have one good thing: as architecture, the Aalto Theatre has long since been classified as classical modernism, and also meets the most modern requirements in terms of building and stage technology as well as energy efficiency.

The Aalto-Musiktheater is considered one of the best opera houses in the German-speaking world. Dr. Merle Fahrholz is Artistic Director of the Aalto Music Theatre and the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra. Andrea Sanguineti is General Music Director of the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra. Since the 2024/2025 season, the Aalto Ballett Essen has been led by the artistic duo Armen Hakobyan and Marek Tůma.